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FOX's 'Touch' Adds Danny Glover & Young Lead David Mazouz

Months after nabbing Kiefer Sutherland to play the father of an autistic boy with the ability to predict the future, Tim Kring’s Touchseemingly went dormant. Now the show is back in the spotlight after casting child actor David Mazouz, in addition to signing actor Danny Glover for an important recurring role.

Known to many as the best partner a semi-psychotic cop could have, Glover has enjoyed a storied career spanning more than three decades – earning the actor several accolades and a strong fan base.

Recently, Glover has been shifting his time between roles in major motion pictures like Roland Emmerich’s 2012, the Chris Rock remake of Frank Oz’s Death at a Funeral, and guest spots on popular television shows.After stints on Human Target, Brothers & Sisters and more, the actor is currently scheduled to appear in a July episode of TNT’s Leverage, alongside Timothy Hutton and his group of altruistic grifters.

According to TV Line, Glover has signed to play Arthur DeWitt in Touch, a professor specializing in dealing with children who have special abilities when it comes to numbers – he’s like Charles Xavier for mathletes. While the role is a major one, it is unclear at this time how the DeWitt character will play into the overall story.

Additionally, Touch has cast youngster David Mazouz in the all-important role of Jake Bohm – the autistic son of Martin Bohm (Sutherland), on which the entire series will rely. Likely unfamiliar to many, Mazouz’s credits include the Lifetime movie Amish Grace, in addition to appearances on CBS’s Mike & Molly, and ABC’s Private Practice.

For those who don’t know, Mazouz will portray an autistic child who never speaks, and refuses to be touched, but has the uncanny ability to see the world as a series of unified events – often well before they occur.

Since Kring took some hits for the last season(s) of Heroes, there is plenty of skepticism surrounding this new series. However, FOX (more specifically entertainment president Kevin Reilly) has expressed the network’s interest in the series by calling Touch“a compelling drama” with “a really extraordinary script.”

Even with the backing of FOX’s entertainment president, having a show where the primary character refuses to speak may be a serious challenge – which could be why Kring and his fellow producers have gone to such lengths to secure top-notch talent like Sutherland and Glover to actually lead the program.

Touch has been on FOX’s slate since early this year, so perhaps more notable than the series’ casting announcements has been the amount of time that has elapsed between each of them. Since Sutherland has been busy on Broadway in Jason Miller’s That Championship Season, production on Touch was ostensibly placed on the backburner. Now that the actor’s stage duties are nearing completion, the pilot should begin shooting very soon, so more casting announcements will likely be imminent.

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If all goes well, FOX is expected to announce Touch as a mid-season replacement, so stay tuned for potential airdates.